


Climb into my arms with blood on your clothes

by tigriswolf



Series: comment_fic drabbles [202]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain America and Steve Rogers are not the same thing, Gen, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Original Character Death(s), Past Brainwashing, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a smidge of darkness, roaring rampage of revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-10 20:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2039823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky Barnes was always dangerous. </p><p>What no one realizes is that so was Steve Rogers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Climb into my arms with blood on your clothes

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Climb into my arms with blood on your clothes  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; title from “A Glow”  
> Warnings: violence/death/torture; post-WS  
> Pairings: Steve/Bucky leanings, for sure  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 740  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: MCU, Steve/+Bucky, Okkervil River - A Glow

Once upon a time, there were two little boys who grew up hungry and grew up mean. Yeah, Steve’s always fought for the underdog, for those who couldn’t defend themselves – that doesn’t mean he’s bright and brilliant and an ideal to strive towards.

Or, well, it wouldn’t mean that if Erskine hadn’t seen something in him. That same thing Bucky’s always seen, the thing that so many people didn’t. 

Captain America is a mask. There are things he did that never made it into the history books, that are redacted from reports because there are things that Captain America _cannot_ do.

SHIELD believes the history books. You’d think a government agency would know better… you’d think.

.

Winter Soldier goes to ground and begins burning Hydra alive. 

Steve Rogers carries the shield because it is _his_ and he uses it offensively because it’s cleaner than guns. He uses guns, too.

Sam Wilson grew up on stories of Gabe Jones and Captain America, but it’s Steve he’s following, not the sanitized hero from the page and the movies and the TV shows.

.

Steve started the fights and Bucky let him go until he couldn’t anymore, and then Bucky stepped in to end the fights _very_ decisively. No one went after Steve Rogers twice, because Bucky Barnes was there waiting, and there was a glint in his eye.

Bucky Barnes was always dangerous. 

What no one realizes is that so was Steve Rogers.

.

The hero in the history books would hunt down the monster his best friend became. The hero in the history books would understand lost causes and when to cut his losses. 

The hero in the history books never existed, and what’s left of SHIELD should’ve known that when they sent a team to clean up Hydra’s mess. 

Because when they find the Winter Soldier, he’s got Captain America fighting beside him, the Falcon covering them from the air, and there are Hydra agents dying around them. 

The team lead pulls up short because they can’t attack Captain America – and the situation might have been salvaged had one of the agents not fired at the Soldier, a shot that’s blocked by that world-famous shield, and from there it’s a bloodbath with only one inevitable outcome. 

.

“What are you gonna do with me?” the man who was Bucky Barnes a lifetime ago asks as the Falcon lands behind them.

The man who has always been Steve Rogers first and foremost smiles at him, sliding a bloodstained shield onto his back. “What do _you_ wanna do?” he asks.

The man who wants to be Bucky Barnes says, “Sleep.” 

Steve smiles at him. “Then that’s what we’ll do.” 

.

The hero in the history books never existed. He was a mask, created to be propaganda, and he was very successful. 

Steve Rogers fought dirty, and he fought hard, and while prisoners were nice for intel, Zola was one of a handful he ever brought in. Considering how that ended, he doesn’t believe in prisoners anymore. 

The truth is, Bucky Barnes was always dangerous because the only thing he ever fought for was Steve Rogers. They’re good men, they really are – but they’re not what the history books say, what the Smithsonian says, what SHIELD thought when Captain America was defrosted, or what Hydra believed their weapon Winter Soldier to be.

Two little boys grew up hungry and they grew up mean. And they should have died in the war, as heroes remembered for the very brave and very great things they’d done.

Sam Wilson tries to minimize the damage, but his heart’s not in it. All he has to do is imagine Riley being blasted out of the sky, caught by the enemy, and turned into a mindless weapon. He grew up on the stories of Captain America, that propaganda hero who could do no wrong. 

He prefers Steve Rogers. 

.

“Where do you see this ending?” Fury demands. Sam’s not sure why he picked up the phone. 

Natasha kicks them a few missions, and Stark’s covering their tracks, and Steve’s _laughing_ and Bucky’s _smiling_ , and Sam knows that eventually they’ll run out of Hydra. 

But he knows Steve Rogers, now, and he knows there are always bullies, always underdogs, always people who don’t know how to fight for themselves. 

So he says honestly, “Bloody and on fire,” and then he tosses the phone into the river and catches up to his team.


End file.
